Quote:Not a single executive from a major U.S. gunmaker was among representatives of firearm victims, law enforcement officials and gun rights advocates — including the National Rifle Association — when the Senate Judiciary Committee hosted its first major gun hearing last month. Nor will gunmakers be among the witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing, when the panel begins considering a new assault weapons ban.

....one of the industry’s biggest money-makers — known among gunmakers as the “modern sporting rifle” and to gun-control advocates as the “military-style assault weapon.”

The rifle’s popularity helped 465 U.S. gun and ammunition makers generate an estimated $12 billion in revenue last year, surging from about $9 billion in 2007, according to an industry analysis by IBISWorld, a market research firm.

.....thriving overall industry that employs nearly 100,000 people in the U.S., from assembly-line workers to sales people at local sporting goods stores.